Week 11 Whiparound: Top Performances, Best Games and Fun Stuff
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Week 11 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete, and that means the regular season is over. It’s playoff time. The brackets for Class 6A-2A were announced Saturday by the NMAA. Here are some of the best…
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Continue ReadingWeek 11 of the New Mexico High School football season is complete, and that means the regular season is over. It’s playoff time. The brackets for Class 6A-2A were announced Saturday by the NMAA. Here are some of the best performances, best games, fascinating numbers and other fun stuff from the 11th weekend of the 2021 season. First round of the playoffs begin Fri. night.
Team of the Week: Gallup. In a game that was completely off the radar for 99.999% of high school football fans in New Mexico, Gallup snapped a 19-game losing streak with a 52-0 mercy-rule victory over Shiprock. Both teams came into the game with 0-9 records, but Gallup was able to end the season with a victory and perhaps carry some momentum into the off-season.
Honorable Mention: St. Pius X; Cleveland; Volcano Vista.
Player of the Week: Zach Vigil Zach Vigil 5'9" | 190 lbs | RB Rio Rancho | 2022 State NM , Rio Rancho and Lucious Dickson, Cleveland. The two running backs in Friday night’s epic in Rio Rancho were the stars of the show. Vigil rushed for a staggering 323 yards, including several 50+ yards, in a losing effort. Dickson, meanwhile, rushed for 142 yards and four second-half touchdowns, including a 45-yard scamper with 1:24 left for the game-winning points in Cleveland’s 28-27 victory that earned the Storm the No. 1 overall seed in the Class 6A playoffs.
Honorable Mention: Nathan Lopez Nathan Lopez 5'5" | 135 lbs | WR Cibola | 2022 State NM , Cibola (17 receptions for 149 yards vs. Volcano Vista).
Best Team Offensive Performance: Moriarty. The Pintos’ powerful ground game was operating on full power Friday night in a winner-take-all district championship game against Taos. Moriarty totaled 344 rushing yards with nobody rushing for more than 89 yards. The Pintos spread the wealth as good any team in the state. RB Cayden Dunn Cayden Dunn 6'1" | 180 lbs | RB Moriarty | 2022 State NM led the way with 89 yards on just 6 carries. Moriarty will be a tough out for anybody they play in the Class 4A playoffs. They’re on the same side of the bracket as No. 1 Lovington, which could be an epic matchup in the semifinals if both teams get there.
Best Team Defensive Performance: Raton. With the District 3A-2 title and a possible No. 1 seed on the line, the Raton defense brought their ‘A’ game to Saturday afternoon’s clash with St. Michael’s in Santa Fe. The Tigers held the Horsemen to 23 total yards (zero rushing yards) in the first half and then forced two turnovers and stopped St. Michael’s on downs in the second half. The Raton defense’s stellar outing allowed the Tigers offense to figure things out after a scoreless first half. They rode the tough running of RB Cayden Walton Cayden Walton 5'9" | 180 lbs | RB Raton | 2023 State NM (96 yards, 2 TD) to a 14-0 victory over St. Michael’s.
Honorable Mention: Volcano Vista (3 sacks in 4Q, two forced turnovers and 4 stops in red zone to hold the powerful Cibola offense to 14 points in a 21-14 win at Community Stadium); St. Pius X (held Albuquerque Academy to 71 total yards).
Best Game:: Cleveland 28, Rio Rancho 27. The ‘Clash of the Titans’ lived up to the hype in front of a frenzied stadium record crowd, a NFHS TV audience and a horde of media on hand in the City of Vision. Most likely, unless there’s an upset along the way, we’ll see these two teams clash again Thanksgiving weekend in the Class 6A state championship game. That game, though, will be played at Cleveland High School. You can count on at least one of these teams reaching the championship game. Based on what we’ve seen so far this season, the odds of both teams losing before the title game are extremely long.
Honorable Mention: Bloomfield 34, Kirtland Central 29 (Broncos scored 2 TD in fourth quarter to pull within 5 points but a late onside kick was covered by Bloomfield to preserve the district-clinching win); Mayfield 21, Deming 14 (OT)(Deming scored game-tying TD with 23 seconds left in 4Q before Trojans won on Jose Montoya Jose Montoya 5'8" | RB Mayfield | 2022 State NM ’s TD run in overtime); St. Pius X 14, Albuq. Academy 13 (only missed PAT separated these two teams in district championship game).
Best Rivalry Win: Roswell 16, Goddard 14. The Coyotes have dominated this rivalry in recent years and Friday night’s win earned them the district championship and the No. 3 overall seed for the Class 5A playoffs after an 0-4 start that had many folks wondering if this was a lost season for Roswell. Answer: No. Goddard took an early 7-0 lead on a 35-yard run by Colton Franzoy before Roswell tied the score at halftime on Sebastian Mendoza’s 15-yard run in the second quarter. Roswell scored twice on a field goal and TD to take a 16-7 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Goddard scored a late TD but their onside kick attempt was unsuccessful.
Honorable Mention: Cleveland (28-27 over Rio Rancho); Los Lunas (38-6 over Belen to finish 10-0); Robertson (40-27 over West Las Vegas).
Things You Need To Know: We know who’s in the playoffs. Who was left out? In 6A, Santa Fe and Organ Mountain were left out of the field as Clovis got the nod for the No. 12 seed. No doubt, the Wildcats’ come-from-behind win at Santa Fe a few weeks ago was a key factor in the Wildcats getting into the field. In 5A, Los Alamos (5-5) grabbed the No. 12 seed even though they are ranked just No. 15 in the MaxPreps poll. The Hilltoppers got in over Alamogordo (#12 in MaxPreps poll), Capital (13) and Highland (14). The reward for Los Alamos? A long bus ride to Las Cruces to face No. 5 Mayfield Friday night. In Class 4A, Pojoaque Valley missed the cut even though the Elks finished with a winning record (5-4). They concluded the season with a 56-6 rout of rival Espanola Valley. In Class 3A, Thoreau got the No. 12 seed over Santa Fe Indian (5-5) and Tohatchi (6-3). . .Navajo Prep won a district title and is the No. 9 seed for the Class 3A playoffs but the Farmington Times reported the Eagles have forfeited three non-district games from earlier this season because a player was ineligible. . .Hot Springs forfeited their final two regular season games and head coach Daniel Terrazas resigned after an alleged criminal assault in the school locker room two weeks ago. The Sierra County Sheriff’s Office is investigating.
District Champions: How important is winning a district championship in terms of seeding for the playoffs? Very important. In fact, in classes 6A-4A, just one team that won a district championship wasn’t rewarded with a Top 4 seed: Mayfield. The Trojans are the #5 seed as Artesia, district runner-up to Rowell in 5A-4, was given the No. 4 seed.
6A-1: Cleveland
6A-2: La Cueva
6A-3: Centennial
5A-1: Farmington
5A-3: Mayfield
5A-4: Roswell
5A-5: Los Lunas
4A-1: Bloomfield
4A-2: Moriarty
4A-3: Lovington
4A-5: St. Pius X
3A-1: Navajo Prep
3A-2: Raton
3A-3: Socorro
3A-4: NMMI
3A-5: Cuba
FIRST ROUND KICKOFF TIMES ANNOUNCED: About 12 hours after the NMAA revealed the playoff brackets Saturday night, we began to learn dates and kickoff times for some of the first-round games this coming weekend. The majority of the first-round games are scheduled for Friday, Nov. 5 with some games on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 6).
CLASS 6A:
Clovis (12) at Las Cruces (5), Sat., 2 p.m. (FOD)
Carlsbad (11) at Volcano Vista (6), Fri., 7 p.m. (Community)
Eldorado (9) at Hobbs (8), Sat., 1 p.m.
Sandia (10) at Cibola (7), Fri., 7 p.m. (Milne)
CLASS 5A:
Los Alamos (12) at Mayfield (5), Fri. 7 p.m. (FOD)
Valley (11) at Goddard (6), Fri., 7 p.m. (Wool Bowl)
Deming (10) at Belen (7), Fri., 7 p.m.
Piedra Vista (9) at Santa Teresa (8), Sat., 1 p.m.
CLASS 4A:
Bernalillo (12) at Albuq. Academy (5), Fri., 3 p.m.
Taos (10) at Valencia (7), Fri., 7 p.m.
Aztec (11) at Ruidoso (6), Sat., 1 p.m.
CLASS 3A:
Navajo Prep (9) at Hope Christian (8), Fri., 7 p.m. (Wilson)
Cobre (11) at West Las Vegas (6), Sat., 1 p.m.
Dexter (10) at Cuba (7), Sat., 2 p.m.
Our full story from the NMAA's Saturday night unveiling of the 6A-2A brackets for the 2021 New Mexico High School FB playoffs.
We tell you the #1 seeds, the 1st round matchups and the complete brackets for each classification.
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